Stick To The Shopping List

I just can’t say that I am angry the Christmas decorations are out already at Target. I admit it..I am thrilled! I stopped by to pick up one thing yesterday and found myself drawn to the back of the store by the twinkling lights. It was beautiful! I know they say not to go towards the light, but I did, and I have no regrets. The Target Team Members were busy unloading boxes and preparing the displays, while holiday hungry shoppers were circling them with their shopping carts. I of course joined the feeding frenzy. We stayed on the outer edge of the holiday section darting in every few seconds to ooh and aww at a cute Santa ornament or festive bird with a scarf. The anxiety level was starting to rise. The question on everyone’s mind was what was going to be the new spiffy decoration that was going to sell out before the weekend and so we must grab it now. The problem with hunting so early is you might end up grabbing the second cutest item and not the absolute cutest item. You go home thinking you got the cutest thing and then later, at your best friends house, you see the most awesome holiday thingy and ask where they got it. They say Target a day after you were there, and they grabbed the last one and next year Target will have the same item, but it will be slightly different and not as good. I think I am out of cat food. I need to go back today.

Rylie Durham is used to dealing with all sorts of people and situations in her role as a Child Life Specialist at a local hospital. Why, then, does Zach York bring out the worst in her? After all, he’s there to donate toys to the children she loves. Could it be that she sees a kindred spirit in him? Rylie knows a thing or two about hiding a bruised heart from the world… and the danger inherent in blaming God for the hurt. With December’s approach, Rylie enlists Zach’s help for a special undertaking — a Christmas formal for one of the pediatric units. As they work together on the project, she hopes to show him that, even when it’s painful, love is worth the risk…

Is a medieval death cult stalking Westhill College? That’s the question facing school newspaper editor Colin Mitchell when a girl’s body is found ritualistically murdered in front of the arts building. A strange symbol found at the scene may connect the crime to a terrifying and mysterious ancient military religious order founded over a thousand years ago during the Crusades. As he digs deeper into the mystery, Colin begins to uncover a trail of murder and corruption that extends far beyond his worst nightmares. As the bodies pile up, he’s going to need to use every last bit of his insider knowledge and investigative ability, because the police are starting to zero in on him as their prime suspect… and the killer is closer than he thinks. Deadline is the first in a series of nerve-shredding thrillers from the award-winning and internationally bestselling author Craig McLay.

Cole is a young man with a unique power – the ability to venture into the dreams of others. Nobody can tell him how this gift came to him, or why. All he knows is that it seems inextricably linked to the mysterious green crystals worn by the Order of Enlightenment and its followers. When a surprise attack on his home forces him to flee, he embarks on a perilous journey across an empire to free the realm from the grip of an insidious cult seeking to enslave its people. As he travels through the untamed north pursued by a deadly adversary, he forms an uneasy alliance with Raven, an enigmatic stranger pursuing a decades-old quest for vengeance. Together, their path takes them through the darkest and most dangerous corners of the land, where even the bravest Legion soldiers fear to tread. Meanwhile, the Empire, still bearing the scars of civil uprising, prepares to make war against a mysterious threat far to the south. Ignoring his own misgivings and murmurs of a fresh northern rebellion, Prince Adelmar, Commander of the Imperial Legion and heir to the throne, leads the invasion and faces the only foe he cannot outmanoeuvre: his own family.

Red Mountain in eastern Washington is home to a community of eccentrics. Otis Till, the area’s visionary winemaker, has been known to howl at the moon — fully nude. Single mother Margot Pierce moved across the country to build an inn, but so far all she does is binge on gelato, the Hallmark Channel, and fantasies of murdering her ex. High school senior Emilia Forester is the daughter of celebrity parents struggling to build her own life outside of their shadow. And Brooks Baker is a man haunted by his past spent living on the streets as an orphan. Somehow, everyone lives together harmoniously, their lives intertwined like the vines in Red Mountain’s beautiful and renowned vineyards. But in a place where everyone knows each other, secrets are like poison… and right now Otis, Margot, Emilia, and Brooks all have something to hide. When their secrets come to light, will their small mountain be stronger for it — or will lives be torn apart? Heartfelt and wonderfully descriptive, Red Mountain is the story of four complicated people living in a beautiful landscape unlike anywhere else. Told from multiple perspectives and rich with vivid descriptions of wine life, this novel will transport you from the first page to the last.

It begins with an argument between two backpackers and a taxi driver in Jakarta, Indonesia. It ends in Bali on the night of one of the most infamous acts of terrorism in the 21st century. More than a love story, more than an odyssey, THE PUPPET MASTER OF JAVA is an epic: a novel that captures a time and place that changed the world forever. Travellers and travel agents, prostitutes and hawkers, sultans and shamans, presidents and terrorists. The heat, the dirt, the desperation, the shoving, the smiling, the living, the looking, the laughing, the hurrying. THE PUPPET MASTER OF JAVA is a place you haven’t been before.